Earthquake in Chile destroys thousands of homes

A powerful earthquake damaged thousands of houses, blocked roads and knocked out electricity across northern Chile, with at least two reported deaths and more than 100 injuries.

The 7.7 magnitude quake, centred in Chile’s Atacama desert near the village of Quillagua, was so strong it was felt on the other side of the continent in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Scientists are trying to determine how such an intense earthquake apparently did not cause more damage.

“It was incredible. I thought my last day had come when I saw the mountain shaking under a large cloud of dust,” said Maria Ines Palete, of Quillagua, which lies in the foothills of the Andes mountains.

The quake, which struck around midday yesterday local time, with an epicentre 780 miles north of Santiago, was followed by several aftershocks, including three larger than magnitude 5, according to the US Geological Survey.

Hardest hit were the towns of Maria Elena and Tocopilla.

In Tocopilla, 100 houses were destroyed and another 2,500, or 40% of the city’s total, were damaged, said presidential spokesman Ricardo Lagos Weber. Two sections of Tocopilla were evacuated and schools were being used as shelters for those left homeless by the quake.

Two women were killed in Tocopilla when their houses collapsed, authorities said. At least 100 people were treated there for injuries or panic.

Chile’s government said it was flying 500 emergency houses to Tocopilla which should be installed today.

In Maria Elena, 1,200 homes were damaged – or 70% of the city’s total, Mr Lagos Weber said. Residents were still without running water, electricity and telephone service today.

The quake occurred in one of the most seismically-active regions in the world, where the Nazca tectonic plate is shoving itself beneath the South American plate.

A 1939 quake in Chile killed 28,000 people and in 1960, a magnitude 9.5 quake - the strongest recorded in the 20th century – killed 5,700 people.

On June 13 2005, a magnitude 7.8 quake near Tarapaca in northern Chile killed 11 people and left thousands homeless.